Claude wrote:
Want to make a gramma pie like my dear old mum used to make when I was a
kid. However I'm having trouble tracking down a gramma - I've tried Vic
Market (Melb) but the vendors look non-plussed when I mention it. I recall
that a gramma looked like a butternut pumpkin, but is that what it is? Or
is it something different? Google hasn't helped


hey claude
how are you searching in google? i found lots of gramma pie recipes,
australian, and it's mostly described as an aussie version of pumpkin pie.
also found this definition in the Australian National Dictionary:

gramma n. a type of pumpkin.

1866 Henning Letters 97 Plum-pudding, roley-puddings made of gramah-jam,
beefsteak pies and puddings I am quite clever at.

1960 Rumsey Seed Catalogue (Sydney) GRAMMA – TROMBONE, thick flesh,
special strain for market 2/8 [1 oz.]

Notes: Predating AND 1964.

hope your pie tastes great!

"jils" wrote in message
...

hey claude
how are you searching in google? i found lots of gramma pie recipes,
australian, and it's mostly described as an aussie version of pumpkin pie.
also found this definition in the Australian National Dictionary:

Thanks Jils. What I meant was I didn't find much on Google that told me
what a gramma is. Certainly found a few recipes but nothing that told me
exactly what type of pumpkin it is esp if it is a butternut or not. From
the replies I've received and talking to my family it now seems clear that
it is not a butternut but a particular variety of pumpkin that is sweet and
usually (or else my mum only bought the curved ones) horse-shoe shaped. My
mum's recipe was to boil the gramma in well-sweetened water with a dash of
lemon and then mash and put in the pie shell. Only problem I've got now is
where do I buy a gramma in Melbourne???

well, if it were me, i would email the abc
http://www.abc.net.au/sydney/stories/s1108977.htm
according to that page it's only available in autumn, so you'll have a
little wait!
plenty of time to suss out a decent greengrocer and ask them to get one
for you later in the year.
or how about the vic markets?

Claude wrote:

Thanks Jils. What I meant was I didn't find much on Google that told me
what a gramma is. Certainly found a few recipes but nothing that told me
exactly what type of pumpkin it is esp if it is a butternut or not. From
the replies I've received and talking to my family it now seems clear that
it is not a butternut but a particular variety of pumpkin that is sweet and
usually (or else my mum only bought the curved ones) horse-shoe shaped. My
mum's recipe was to boil the gramma in well-sweetened water with a dash of
lemon and then mash and put in the pie shell. Only problem I've got now is
where do I buy a gramma in Melbourne???

On Tue, 07 Mar 2006 21:48:30 +1100, jils wrote:

well, if it were me, i would email the abc
http://www.abc.net.au/sydney/stories/s1108977.htm
according to that page it's only available in autumn, so you'll have a
little wait!

Errrr, my watch says it is autumn o'clock right now. :-)

yeah, i guess you're right. still feels like summer to me!
that abc link is dated 15th may and describes autumn as "right now" !
but really, that's the end of autumn, eh? i just know it's hot now, and
i don't feel like it's autumn til it starts to cool down!

wrote:
On Tue, 07 Mar 2006 21:48:30 +1100, jils wrote:

well, if it were me, i would email the abc
http://www.abc.net.au/sydney/stories/s1108977.htm
according to that page it's only available in autumn, so you'll have a
little wait!

Errrr, my watch says it is autumn o'clock right now. :-)

"Claude" writes:
Thanks Jils. What I meant was I didn't find much on Google that told me
what a gramma is. Certainly found a few recipes but nothing that told me
exactly what type of pumpkin it is esp if it is a butternut or not. From
the replies I've received and talking to my family it now seems clear that
it is not a butternut but a particular variety of pumpkin that is sweet and
usually (or else my mum only bought the curved ones) horse-shoe shaped. My
mum's recipe was to boil the gramma in well-sweetened water with a dash of
lemon and then mash and put in the pie shell. Only problem I've got now is
where do I buy a gramma in Melbourne???

You're correct: a gramma is not a butternut pumpkin. But at a pinch, you
could substitute a butternut pumpkin or a Qld blue, for gramma. Gramma
probably isn't any sweeter than either of these pumpkins, it's the sugar
that the cook adds that makes it sweet! Gramma is more fibrous than most
pumpkin, very like the spongy flesh of a fully mature butternut.

I'm not sure about grammas necessarily being thin with a bulbous end like
a stretched butternut. Sometimes Coles has pieces of gramma on sale, the
flesh is redder than butternut, and the pieces wedge-shaped so it looks
like they came from something shaped like Cinderella's pumpkin (e.g., like
a large Qld blue or some Halloween variety). Its skin colour is orange,
the flesh is almost red.

Gramma pie is going to taste similar to pumpkin pie. A gramma + apricot
filling is nice, with ice-cream.
--
John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)